Making and spending dough

Today has been what I would call a successful day. The first thing I did was to rather apprehensively get a loaf of bread baking. The boys nearly had their heads right in the machine, trying to see what was going on, so I had to shoo them out the kitchen eventually so I could concentrate on what to do. It turned out to be a very simple process after all – I had to just put the ingredients in (order is very important – liquids first, then flour, and yeast right on top), select the program, select the crust colour, and then press start. Three hours and forty minutes later, the loaf was baked. The bread machine mixes the ingredients, kneads the dough, lets it stand, kneads it again, lets it stand again, and then bakes it. I kept an eye on it during school, as there is a viewing window which is quite handy. School was good – no hiccups. I administered a test in maths, which the boys both did very well in. Aaron rather ingeniously used his ruler as a number line for one problem! I didn’t mind though – at least he used his initiative. I don’t normally get begged to read another chapter in history, but the boys are so interested in the discovery of Tut’s tomb that they wanted me to go on! I didn’t though. We were finished shortly after 12, but which time the bread had cooled down sufficiently to slice it. It was amazing. Cooked through quite properly, with a wonderfully crispy crust. I used wholemeal flour, so it was healthy too. We had single-slice open sandwiches with melted in margarine and grated cheese. Wow! Of course I had to photograph it…

The afternoon was good too. After washing up and tidying the kitchen, I settled into my room for a tidy-up. I had lots of sorting, organizing, and cleaning to do. I had to go to town for a few things, and both boys came with me. I wanted to see if I could find anything in the corner shop as a farewell gift for Scilla, and everything is now 75% off. The boys had taken some pocket money with them, and we were all surprised to find some little Bionicle spiders at the shop, which were 15p each. They’re proper Lego, just very little, so that was an excellent price. Then it was on to the Emporium where I needed paint for Nick’s office. I found a tin, only one tin, of the paint I wanted, and it was reduced too, so that was another success.

The schoolroom is coming along quite well. The chap doing the plumbing was in today to install the water heater, which is now done, and there was someone else doing electrical stuff, installing plug points and things. Steve has tiled as far as he can for now, and they’ve painted a small section of the schoolroom in a creamy colour, just one coat, which looks so good. The ship came back today from its UK voyage, and we wait to see whether the flat-pack kitchen units they ordered have arrived.